ifish works! Clackamette ramp changes!!!!

[Hogmaster]

Incredible!

A huge thank you to all who voted in the poll and voiced opinions on the dangerous launch conditions at Clackamette Park.

I just received the following email from Mr. Jim Row from Oregon City:

I just wanted to let you both know what is going with the boat launch at Clackamette Park. We (the City) are working with the Oregon State Marine Board to change the configuration of the docks to correct the problem that you have brought to our attention. I was hoping that one of you could pass on the information that I am providing to other users through ifish.net. We will also be posting information at the launch site. What we are planning to do is as follows:

1. Immediately apply for a new in-water work permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
2. Apply to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for a grant from the federal Sports Fish Restoration Funds.
3. During the approved work period of July 15 - August 31 2003 we will relocate the existing 6' by 160' boarding float and 4 steel piles situated parallel to the boat ramp to the upstream side of the ramp.
4. The 6' by 80' boarding float situated perpendicular to the ramp will be permanently removed from the site.

Hopefully, this makes sense to you. We are only re-installing the section of floats that run parallel to the ramp. we feel that maintaining the same L shaped configuration on the upstream side could create a dangerous trap situation. The posting that we will soon place on-site will include a drawing to illustrate the change.

If all goes well, we will be able to make the changes during the approved work window of July 15 - August 31 2003. For this to happen, our permit and grant applications must be approved in time.

Thank you both for bringing this problem to light. If possible, please see that others know what we are proposing to do.

Jim Row
Recreation/ Aquatics Manager
City of Oregon City

This is great news from a safety standpoint.

Note though that it means the changes will not happen before the heavy use period next spring. Caution will still be in order then.

This would not have happened without all your help in making the entities involved aware the problem is severe enough to warrant correcting.

This forum allowed it. Three cheers to ifish!

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

[skrimmy]

Is this a great site, or what!!! And a HUGE thanks to you too Hog!

[ 11-26-2002, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: skrimmy ]

[Pete]

And Three Cheers to YOU, Gary, for your diligence and concern to raise this problem on everyone's radar and see it through to a solution. Certainly you weren't the only one involved and everyone deserves some credit for this accomplishment. But YOU, Mr. Hogmaster, took the lead and made it happen. THANK YOU! graemlins/applause.gif

[Gus Orviston]

AWESOME...oops , sorry I yelled.

gus

[Red]

Nice job Hogmaster :cheers: ,

If I am reading the e-mail correctly, I surmise that a dock parallel to the ramp, but on the upstream side will be all that will be in the water. Is that so? I think this is a good compromise if this is the case. Thanks for your organizational efforts on this project.

PS AWOR told me about his story, I think he's tickled :shocked: :shocked: ! Good stories !

[fishing is life]

good deal. i am glad the changes were made before somebody got hurt. thank you to all the people who put the time in to get this change done. i have faith in our city government after this.

[Miss B Haven]

Great job guys :grin: graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif - hopefully the signage will help prevent any injuries/damage tween now and then. :cheers:

[jet]

Power of i-fish.

Great job everybody

Jet~~~

[husker]

^5 hogmaster...nice job......this is totally incredible work

[David Johnson]

I wonder how many thousands of dollors they waisted the first time by not thinking the dock placement through?

[MADWIZERD]

graemlins/applause.gif
you the man ,hog

[dogfishboy]

Well done ifish. : :cheers: graemlins/applause.gif

DJ, surely you didn't expect them to get it right the first time :wink:

[POS Clerk]

Very well done... graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif GREAT job graemlins/applause.gif

POS Clerk

[fishbait]

:cheers:

[Steelie Steve]

Well Done Hog and Ifish!

graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif

Steve :cheers:

[Tanner]

I was there on Saturday and the dock has already been moved. The only things left are the pilings

[Bankbound]

Way to take the initiative Hogmaster!!!! :cheers: :cheers: :smile: :smile: I'm glad to know that there are people out there who care enough to take this kind of action! :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: Congrats Ifish and to hogmaster

MH

[ 11-26-2002, 02:25 PM: Message edited by: Bankbound ]

[Hogmaster]

A couple of things here;

1) David, I was told that the dock project initially cost $60,000. The funds came from the OSMB to the City of Oregon City. I guess the good news is that the materials will be able to be re-used, so after the arduous permit process the only thing that will cost extra will be the lifting and resetting of the pilings... The one dock piece (the perpendicular one) should be re-useable at another dock.

2) Tanner, they actually remove the docks every fall regardless of the effort to get the problem fixed. They have a docking permit from late May (I think) to mid-November. I replied to Mr. Row's email, thanking him, and also requesting that the city not put the docks back in next spring. At the hearing Bernie (Catch and Eat) and I attended to present our testimony one of the commissioners suggested the same, so hopefully they won't.

Thanks again to all of you ifishers who helped make the case. All I did was write a letter and present the data. It was easy thanks to you!

PS - Red, yes your understanding is the same way I read it. And yep AWOR was the author of the story I posted on the "cold" thread. Maybe we can get him to join and post his own drivel! :grin:

[ 11-26-2002, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Hogmaster ]

[Jennie@ifish]

Way to go, guys!!!

:grin:

[Stz ll]

Great news! :smile:

Now if they would only change the park and the parking area back as it was I might actually use it again. :rolleyes:

[WheresMyBobber]

Many thanks to all that voiced their concerns on this matter! graemlins/applause.gif

Hog - check your email

[riverrat]

great job to hogmaster and all the support from ifish members....the small voice of common sense was finally heard....maybe a letter to whomever designed the dangerous dock to fund the reconfiguring design and expenses to "make it right" is in order by the city officials.....i do not feel that sportsman should have to pay extra money in the form of grants for a poor design....the designing firm should be held responsible and pay for the extra work...also they should be thankfull that nobody got killed by something that they created.....the cost of "doing the right thing" by righting their mistake would be a drop in the bucket compared to a wrongful death suit....

[First Light Bite]

Good job, It was pretty spooky thanks for your efforts. graemlins/applause.gif

[CATCH AND EAT]

WAY TO GO GARY!!!! YES I AM YELLING!!!!!!! You had a well prepared presentation and got in touch with all the right people.

I am so glad that the atrocity installed at Clackamette park will be remove. Seems the wheels of government made a good decision this time. Kudos to the Mayor of Oregon City and the city counsel. Thanks also to the Oregon State Marine Board.

Man I am happy about this. :grin:

[Drachir]

Huge Thanks to All who helped get this unsafe situation corrected!!! :cheers: graemlins/applause.gif But be very careful there in the interum!!! :wink:

[Pitch Pocket]

I applaud the Aquatic department of Oregon City for responding to the concerns of the citizens over an obvious mistake in judgement. It's nice that the government officials actually pay attention to their constituency and move proactively to insure the safety of the public. Nice job Hogmaster for bringing it to their attention and three cheers for the forum to bring it out! Holy cow, isn't this how it's supposed to work? :cheers:

[Hell-B]

graemlins/applause.gif Great Job

[big guy]

way cool guys,all your efforts are greatly appreciated

[crabbait]

Great job, Hog! I guess they read some of your longer threads and did not want your undivided attention! graemlins/applause.gif graemlins/applause.gif

If we can help the permit process they should let us know.

I guess I should add a big THANK YOU to the folks from O' City who had the willingness to listen and the authority to get it done. Good on ya! :cheers:

[ 11-26-2002, 10:10 PM: Message edited by: crabbait ]

[Slayer]

Thanks Hog! :cheers:

[Bounty Hunter]

Wow! Now I might not be afraid to try and use that thing.

[Hogmaster]

crabbait -

I did write them a (4 page) letter! Just never posted it here. No doubt why they acted comparitively quickly. :grin: :grin: :grin:

Two other things.

1) Where's my bobber was the other person that the City of OC wrote the email to. He, as a firefighter, added credibility to the cause I'm sure, and his writing puts mine to shame. He couldn't be there the evening Bernie and I made the testimony, but we did delivery his prose. He also called the Oregonian to thank Steven Amick for running the story about the ramp and found that they are in the process of running a follow-up about it too. That's good.

2) While this is overall really great news, I really want to emphasize that the project, if all goes smoothly, will not be completed until the end of next summer. That means that the hazardous piling conditions will be present throughout the winter and spring (presuming we actually ever get some rain!). Please use caution if you plan to launch there folks!

:cheers:

[riverrat]

Originally posted by riverrat:
great job to hogmaster and all the support from ifish members....the small voice of common sense was finally heard....maybe a letter to whomever designed the dangerous dock to fund the reconfiguring design and expenses to "make it right" is in order by the city officials.....i do not feel that sportsman should have to pay extra money in the form of grants for a poor design....the designing firm should be held responsible and pay for the extra work...also they should be thankfull that nobody got killed by something that they created.....the cost of "doing the right thing" by righting their mistake would be a drop in the bucket compared to a wrongful death suit....<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">one last comment would be that there might be a window when work can be done in the clackamas river but can the corps of engineers reissue the original permit rather than going through the whole permit process again?

[ 12-15-2002, 09:58 PM: Message edited by: riverrat ]

[fishchaser]

No, The city wants those Gov. dollars. They know they can't get it from anyone in this state, at this time, so they went to big brother and asked. And of course big brother says YES. That means OC gets ALL of the big brothers money in it's pocket to do with what they please. Of course the ramp will get done, but the city will have to figure out how much of a cut they will get first. Then maybe in a couple of years you will see a new dock setup just on the other side of the ramp. Probably better anyway.

STZII is right, maybe if they fix the parkiing situation and give the bigger trailers and rigs room to get the boat down the ramp without taking up the whole thing.

[GoFish]

This is good news!

All the congradulations already passed around are well deserved.

I want to add that this small, but significant, effort is a good example of how powerfull a unified voice can be when it comes to issues that affect the sport fishiing community.

I also want to remind everyone how important this website is in letting us "get together" to discuss issues. Another reason to thank Jenn for HER efforts in keeping our "living room" clean and available for use.

[edsr]

Hog - Great job!
I launched a new boat there, narrowly missing the dock , several suicidal swimmers, and a woman draping her legs over the dock sunbathing. Anyone of those incidents would could have been disasterous.
edsr